California Report

On June 27th the California Legislature passed the remaining budget trailer bills including all those related to corrections and public safety, and the Governor signed all of the bills to complete the 2012-13 budget package.

On June 15th the Senate and Assembly passed a budget and a few essential trailer bills in order to meet the constitutional deadline. Below are specific provisions related to corrections and public safety.

Public Safety Details
• AB 109 Funding Superstructure and Formula — No changes to the commitment made by the Governor to keep the funding for realignment intact. No new public safety programs are realigned to locals. Superstructure funding falls between law enforcement and Health and Human Services portion of realignment.
• Inmate Transfer Ability — Expands county and sheriff authority to enter into an agreement with any county or multiple counties for the purpose of housing any adult offender serving a term in a county jail. The expanded authority sunsets on July 1, 2015.
• AB 900 for Local Jail Construction — Authorizes $500 million in lease-revenue bonds to fund the construction of local jail facilities. The Board of State and Community Corrections will administer the program with consideration given to counties that are seeking to replace existing compacted, outdated, or unsafe housing capacity or seeking to renovate existing or build new facilities that provide adequate space for the provision of treatment and rehabilitation services, including mental health treatment. In addition, it specifies that a participating county may only add capacity using this authority if it clearly documents an existing housing capacity deficiency and does not lease housing capacity to any other public or private entity for 10 years. Local agencies would be required to provide a 10 percent match to any award they received.
• Shift Relinquished AB 900 Phase I Jail Financing to Phase II — Reduces the Phase I authorization to $445.8 million and increase the Phase II authorization to $774.2 million; effectively shifting $171.3 million from Phase I to Phase II.
• Court Security Cleanup — Makes various changes to simplify court security processes for sheriffs.
• Small and Rural Sheriff’s Funding — Specifies that $18.5 million shall be deposited in the Enhancing Law Enforcement Activities Subaccount (see superstructure) $500,000 grant for rural sheriffs.
• Booking Fees — Sets the amount available for booking fees at $35 million per year beginning in 2012-13 from the Enhancing Law Enforcement Activities Subaccount within the Law Enforcement Services Account.
• Grants for City Police Departments — Includes $20 million General Fund to create a new grant program for city police departments tied to loss of city revenue in redevelopment. Funds are for a three-year period of time. These funds are not tied to AB 109. The Board of State Community Corrections
(BSCC) will determine the funding formula.

Realignment Cleanup

** Consistent with 2011 Public Safety Realignment, revises statute to specify that the following felony crimes are punishable by imprisonment in state prison:
• Sale of a controlled substance to a minor in a park.
• Harmful matter, seduction of a minor, as specified.
• Repeat violation of various sex offenses with children under 16 or 14 years of age.
• Breaking and entering to molest or annoy a child under 18 years of age.
• Solicitation to commit by force or violence rape, sodomy, oral copulation, or other similar offenses, as specified.
• Escape from custody causing serious bodily injury to a peace officer.
• Escape from a mental hospital.
• Evasion of police by driving the wrong way on the highway.
• Purchase, possession or ownership of body armor, as specified.
Consistent with 2011 Public Safety Realignment, revises statute to make the following crimes punishable by imprisonment in county jail, as specified:
• Possession of an explosive substance or any dirk or dagger.
• Check fraud.
• Manufacturing, importing, selling, providing, or possessing any of the following: A military practice or replica hand-grenade, any air gauge knife, any belt-buckle knife, any cane sword, any lipstick case knife, any shobi-zue, any writing-pen knife, any ballistic knife, any metal knuckles, any nunchaku, any leaded cane, any shuriken, any camouflaging firearm container, any cane gun, any firearm not immediately recognizable as a firearm, any wallet gun, any ammunition that contains or consists of any flechette dart, any bullet containing or carrying an explosive agent, any unconventional pistol, any large capacity magazine, any multi-burst trigger activator, any short-barreled rifle or shotgun, or any zip gun.
** Mandatory Supervision:
Makes the following changes pertaining to mandatory supervision, as established in 2011 Public Safety Realignment legislation to allow a court to suspend all or part of a jail term and in turn commit the offender to mandatory supervision in the community:
• Defines mandatory supervision as the portion of a defendant’s sentenced term during which time he or she is supervised by the county probation officer, as specified.
• Clarifies that mandatory supervision qualifies as a prior term for the purpose of imposing a one-year sentence enhancement.
• Extends the authority of probation officers and parole agents to those on mandatory supervision.
• Specifies that any time period, which is suspended because a person has absconded, would not be credited toward the period of supervision.
• Specifies that in addition to probationers, those on mandatory supervision may be transferred to the jurisdiction of another county on the motion of the petitioner.

** Parole:
Board of Parole Hearings Revocation Process Changes — Amends various statutes to apply current probation revocation procedures to all four categories of supervision. Specifically:
• Requires that court proceedings to revoke, modify, or terminate mandatory supervision, post release community supervision, and beginning July 1, 2013, parole, be conducted under current procedural requirements for probation revocations.
• Preserves court authority to employ hearing officers to conduct parole and post-release community supervision revocation proceedings.
• As of July 1, 2013, vests the courts with sole authority to issue warrants for parolees, and clarify that warrants issued by the Board of Parole Hearings before July 1, 2013, remain in effect until served or recalled by the board.
• Clarifies that persons supervised on parole and post-release community supervision are prohibited from petitioning courts for early discharge of supervision under that section.

** Parole Violator Jurisdiction: Specifies that a parolee held in a local jail is under the sole legal custody and jurisdiction of the local county facility even if placed in an alternative custody program by the sheriff. Further, when released from the local jail or county alternative custody program, the parolee shall be returned to the parole supervision of the CDCR for the duration of parole.

** Terms for Multiple Offenses: Clarifies law regarding cases where a person is on bail for a primary felony offense, and is accused of a second felony offense while on bail. If an individual is ultimately found guilty of both offenses, and the first offense would receive prison time rather than jail time, then the term of the second offense shall be served consecutive to the term of the first offense, and be served in prison rather than jail. Specifies that for any concurrent term of imprisonment in the state prison for any one crime, the term for all crimes shall be served in the state prison.

** County Population Cap Release: Current law specifies that where a jail exceeds its population cap, the administrator of that jail may begin releasing inmates up to five days before their scheduled release date. The budget increases that timeframe to 30 days.

** County Contracting Authority: Removes the January 1, 2015, sunset on county authority to contract with other public agencies to provide inmate housing in community correctional facilities.
** DOJ Criminal History Information Availability: Existing law requires the Department of Justice to provide criminal history information to a district attorney or public defender when representing a person in a criminal case or parole revocation hearing. The budget extends that authority to post-release community supervision and mandatory supervision revocation hearings. Similar authority is provided for local agencies providing local criminal history information.

** Pre-Trial Electronic Monitoring: Existing law allows a county to authorize an electronic monitoring program for inmates held without bail if they have spent 30 days in jail following arraignment for a misdemeanor crime or 60 days on a felony charge. The budget adds, as a third category eligible for release, any inmate appropriate for the program based on a determination by the correctional administrator the inmate’s participation would be consistent with the public safety interests of the community.

HIV and Hepatitis Testing
• Standardizes HIV and Hepatitis testing and notification requirements for all persons subject to local supervision.

CDCR, Division of Juvenile Justice
• Ends juvenile parole on January 1, 2013 instead of July 1, 2014. Anyone on DJJ parole on January 1, 2013 will be discharged.
• Reduces DJJ’s age of jurisdiction from 25 to 23.
• DJJ Time-Adds — Eliminates the authority for DJJ staff to extend the date that a juvenile offender, under their care, appears before the Juvenile Parole Board for consideration of parole.
• DJJ Fee Structure — Eliminates in statute the $125,000 trigger for DJJ commitments. Approves part of the Governor’s May Revision proposal to charge $24,000 for only future commitments to DJJ, not current commitments.
BSCC
• Makes the position of Executive Officer a position appointed by the Governor and requiring Senate confirmation.
• Tasks the BSCC, in consultation with the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), the California State Association of Counties, the California State Sheriffs Association, and the Chief Probation Officers of California to develop and implement a first phase baseline data collection instrument to reflect the impact of 2011 Public Safety Realignment. The budget also requires the AOC to collect relevant data from the courts.
• Removes the requirement that the BSCC establish state standards. The effect is that the BSCC will have jurisdiction over local correctional facilities only.
Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees
• Continues the Integrated Services for Mentally Ill Parolees Program, which is a supportive housing program that provides wraparound services to mentally ill parolees who are at risk of homelessness, and improves the program by strengthening the housing component and prioritizing contracts with providers that can help provide a continuum of care after the offender is off of parole.
Female Offender Alternative Custody Program Expansion
• Expands the alternative custody program to most female offenders who do not have a current violent or serious conviction, or a current or prior sex offense conviction requiring registration. The budget specifies that when available and appropriate evidence-based practices shall be prioritized in setting individual treatment and rehabilitation plans for female inmates placed in the alternative custody program.

CDCR Infill Projects
• Authorizes $810 million in lease-revenue bond authority for CDCR to construct three Level II dorm facilities at existing prisons with the intent that the facilities provide flexible housing for various inmate subpopulations, including, but not limited to, those with disabilities, intermediate medical needs, or mental health treatment needs.

Closure of the CRC
• Requires the CDCR to close the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) located in Norco, Calif., upon completion of the three infill facilities.
Judiciary
• Court Fees — Eliminates statutory sunsets on court fee increases imposed in 2010 (SB 857), which results in continued revenue of approximately $110 million, per year, for trial courts. These include the surcharge on first paper filing fees, the summary judgment motion fee, the pro hac vice fee, the court operations assessment (previously the security fee), and the telephone appearance fee. Increases revenue for courts by approximately $57 million per year, as follows: 1) the complex case fee increases from $550 to $1000 ($7.1million); 2) the motion fee increases from $40 to $60 ($8.3 million); 3) the first paper filing fee increases from $395 to $435 ($21.1 million); 4) the jury deposit, is made nonrefundable and moves up payment timeline, ($11.7 million); 5) a new will deposit fee of $50 ($2.2 million); 6) a new court reporter fee of $30 for services under an hour ($5.5 million); and 7) a 20 percent increase ($120 first filing, $65 response) in the appellate court filing fees ($1 million).
• Court Funding and Operations — Makes the following changes relative to trial court funding and operations: 1) restricts spending, from the Trial Court Trust Fund, on the Court Case Management System and, beginning January 1, 2013, for any purpose other than allocation to trial courts unless authorized by statue; 2) requires negotiation prior to changing court transcription fees; 3) specifies that, prior to June 30, 2014, a trial court may carry over all unexpended funds from the courts operating budget from the prior fiscal year; 4) specifies that, commencing June 30, 2014, a trial court may carry over unexpended funds in an amount not to exceed one percent of the court’s operating budget from the prior year; 5) establishes a statewide reserve of two percent of trial court funding to be distributed to courts throughout the year, as specified; and 6) establishes the State Trial Court Improvement and Modernization Fund as the successor fund of the Trial Court Improvement Fund and the Judicial Administration Efficiency and Modernization Fund.
• Trial Court Security — Makes necessary modifications to reflect the new realignment funding structure of trial court security. In addition, recasts existing law with the addition of a dispute resolution process when the presiding judge of a county and a sheriff cannot agree on a security plan.

Department of Justice
Offset of DNA Identification Fund Dollars — A decrease of $10 million General Fund through the elimination of the General Fund transfer to the DNA Identification Fund. The budget replaces this funding by increasing the penalty assessment $1 for every $10 of base fine.